Hundreds of thousands of Victorians have been issued infringement notices for failing to vote in the 2022 state election.
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The Victorian Electoral Commission said 220,000 Victorians who either didn't respond to the their request for an explanation or didn't have a valid reason for failing to vote will face a $92 fine.
Close to 300,000 Victorians were sent an 'Apparent failure to vote notice' by the VEC in April. Of those, almost 70,000 have been excused for valid reasons.
![Voting in State elections is compulsory in Victoria. Picture by Shutterstock Voting in State elections is compulsory in Victoria. Picture by Shutterstock](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/190143465/ac8c7e7b-c83b-44b4-bd07-5d8a25aeaad6.jpg/r0_208_4928_2990_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Acting Electoral Commissioner Dana Fleming said people who receive an infringement notice should take it seriously.
"The most important thing is that you respond to the notice before the deadline - otherwise you could be issued a penalty reminder notice, which carries the original penalty plus an additional administration fee," Ms Fleming said.
Voter turnout for the federal election in 2022 was the lowest in a century. For the first time since compulsory voting was introduced for the 1925 federal election, turnout fell below 90 per cent.
The fine for failing to vote in a federal election is $20, that penalty has not changed since 1984.
Voting became compulsory in Australia in 1924, this resulted in a dramatic increase in voter turnout at the following election. Only 59.38 per cent of Australians voted at the 1922 election compared to 91.38 per cent in 1925.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples campaigned for many years to achieve full voting rights in state and federal elections and these were granted federally in 1962.
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The next time Australians over 18 will be called to vote will be for the Voice to Parliament referendum expected between September and December this year.